Stay tuned to this page throughout the day for live updates from UMAC Dome Day in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn.  Greg Johnson, UMAC SID, will give insight to UMAC teams and players as well as notes about NCAA-related statistical rankings and season reviews.  Feel free to send your UMAC football-related comments and questions to Greg at gljohnson@nwc.edu.

08:05 AM: Happy Halloween and welcome to the 2008 edition of UMAC's Dome Day.  I had hoped to post my first comments of the day earlier, but I've already put on the miles running around the Metrodome's chasms.  The Dome Day staff was on site before 6 a.m. this morning, setting up for this day that will conclude at about 11 p.m.

Why are we here so early if there isn't a UMAC game until 12:30 p.m.?  Good question.  Trinity Bible College (Ellendale, N.D.) and Minot St.-Bottineau hired the UMAC staff to put on a similar atmosphere for the two teams' third game of the season (each team has won once).  The game is not an official part of Dome Day, but none the less, we're here and rolling.

08:17 AM: I just received word that the Big Ten Network is doing a live session from the Dome tonight in preparation for tomorrow's Minnesota vs. Northwestern game.  The crew is setting up their stage now in one of the corners of the field, meaning the UMAC's games will get national coverage!  The only session I'm aware of thus far is at 6:30 p.m., so if you're at home watching the 6 p.m. news, turn to the Big Ten Network after the sports segment is over, as the Martin Luther vs. St. Scholastica game should be in its final minutes.

08:54 AM: As Trinity and Bottineau are having a passing party on the field, I'll fill you in on a little Dome Day history.  Today is the ninth consecutive year of Dome Day, and is the first time since 2002 that the event is not a North-South battle.  Crown, Martin Luther and Northwestern have been a part of Dome Day since its inception in 2000, while St. Scholastica will take part in the event for the first time.

I think Trinity has punted twice in the game, while Bottineau has yet to punt.  Don't get me wrong, both teams have had plenty of fourth downs too. 

P.S. Even though this is my third Dome Day, it still seems weird that I'm watching football at 8 a.m.

09:55 AM: Trinity and Bottineau combined for 58 passing attempts in the first half (zzz).  Minnesota-Morris just arrived for their game at 12:30 p.m. making this feel a little more like a UMAC event with some familiar faces.  We'll be keeping an eye on the Cougars' Robert Koranda, who, as a freshman, could very well hit the 1,000-yard  rushing mark for the season today.  I'll keep you posted on his progress as the game goes along.

12:21 PM: Macalester and Minnesota, Morris are about eight minutes from kicking off.  Minot St.-Bottineau defeated Trinity Bible 36-28, thanks much in part to a Jordan Groninger (MS-B) interception with 2:45 to play.  After Bottineau scored a touchdown to go up by 14 points, Trinity's Ricky Guittierrez returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards for a score.  The Lions' onside kick attempt didn't succeed, and the Lumberjacks won the three-game series 2-1.

On a lighter note, we had a good hour and a half break in prep for the Morris-MAC game, therefore yours truly and his student workers took a few field goal attempts on the turf.  Needless to say, after being able to boot a 30- to 35-yard kick in my prime, that is not the case now as I barely got either of my two attempts off the ground.  How embarrassing!  Looks like Ryan Longwell can keep his job.

12:57 PM: The Morris-Macalester game has started as a defensive battle, as the two teams have combined for less than 70 yards of total offense after the first quarter.  I've been talking to Douglas Lange, head coach of Martin Luther's football team and Jim Unke, who is the Knights' athletic director and head men's basketball coach.  Martin Luther, like many other NCAA Div. III schools, has athletes who compete in more than one sport.  Case in point: sophomore Greg Holzhueter is Martin Luther's starting quarterback, but he's also the Knights' starting point guard.  With MLC playing their final football game next Saturday versus St. Scholastica (yes, they're playing here in the Dome today too), Holzhueter and his two-sport buddies will have one week to prepare for their season-opening basketball game versus Bethel on Nov. 15.  Let's just hope for Greg's sake that both teams have a play named 34 Blast.

01:08 PM: Macalester's Nate Juergens just made a 41-yard field goal to put the Scots up 3-0.  Juergens was 1-2 going into today's game in field goal attempts, with his lone three-pointer coming from 31 yards out this season.  Northwestern's Cody Crum has the conference's longest field goal this year, making a 38-yarder.  Maybe Juergens needs to teach me a few tricks to kicking.

01:55 PM: Macalester leads Minnesota-Morris 16-0 at halftime while owning a 190-53 advantage in total yards.  As the two teams exited the tunnel towards their locker rooms, the Northwestern University (Ill.) football team took the field briefly to acclimate themselves with the turf.  I found it interesting that all of the Northwestern players are in their sweat suits, yet the coaches and support staff are all in formal suits.

02:22 PM: As MAC continues to beat Morris (22-0, 2:20 left in the 3rd Quarter), the Cougars' Koranda has 54 rushing yards, giving him 892 yards for the year.  The freshman leads the UMAC with an average of 146.8 yards per game in conference contests.  Speaking of Minnesota-Morris, they entered this weekend ranked second in the NCAA Division III for turnover margin.  The Cougars are averaging plus-2.0 turnovers per game in their favor.  Today, neither team has yielded a turnover thus far.

03:51 PM: Macalester defeated Minnesota-Morris 25-0, making an interesting scenario for who has beaten who this year: Morris, who defeated St. Scholastica 21-7, was shutout by Macalester, who narrowly edged St. Scholastica 27-21 in overtime.

More blue shirts are beginning to file in as St. Scholastica is about to begin their first Dome Day experience.  The Saints face Martin Luther, who has had an up and down season after starting 2008 at 4-1.  St. Scholastica recorded its first-ever win last Saturday in a 47-8 rout over Trinity Bible.

As I see the continued construction and setup for the Big Ten Network's studio show tonight, I'm getting excited for the program's back drop, which will be UMAC football.

04:17 PM: Martin Luther and St. Scholastica both scored on their opening possessions.  This could be a high scoring affair.  I've also noticed that the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups bag is sitting too close to me, even though it's one level up in the press box.

05:00 PM: Martin Luther has built a 27-14 lead over St. Scholastica with four minutes to play in the second quarter.  Martin Luther has amassed 179 yards on the ground, 103 of which are from quarterback Greg Holzhueter, as the Knights have run the option rather successfully.  Holzhueter has ran for two touchdowns while passing for a third.

I had previously mentioned Holzhueter to be a two-sport athlete at Martin Luther.  Correction: the sophomore is a three-sport athlete, as he is also the starting shortstop on the baseball diamond.  Special thanks to Greg's Aunt Jean in Baltimore for bringing that to my attention.

05:45 PM: Martin Luther just scored again courtesy of an Aaron Voss touchdown, making the score 34-21 in their favor.  The Dome Day seedings have made the Martin Luther-St. Scholastica game rather interesting, as they'll play again next week in Duluth.  The only difference is that next week's game counts as a conference contest, while tonight is considered a non-conference game.  With Minnesota-Morris having to play Macalester due to their schedule availability this season, Crown, Martin Luther, Northwestern and St. Scholastica were subject to the current UMAC standings in determining when and who they would play.  With Martin Luther standing third in the conference, and St. Scholastica currently being in fifth, the matchup was created.  When I asked St. Scholastica head coach Greg Carlson which game he'd rather play first against Martin Luther (next week's game at home or today's Dome game), he promptly replied, "Next week's."  Something tells me that both teams' coaches will be heavily analyzing the film from today's game.

06:22 PM: It's the end of the third quarter, and Martin Luther leads 56-35.  The Knights have scored three times on fourth down this afternoon, making that four successful fourth down conversions for touchdowns today (Macalester scored on fourth down in the first game).  The 43 points scored in the third quarter between both teams is a new Dome Day record for points scored in a quarter.  This game is already the highest scoring contest in Dome Day history, and we're not even in the fourth quarter yet.

Big Ten Network update: After personally checking out the set myself, I found out that they are taping for short clips that will be aired on Friday Night Tailgate (11 p.m.) and tomorrow's pregame show (Minnesota vs. Northwestern will actually be aired on ESPN).

06:55 PM: Martin Luther just finished their 77-42 win over St. Scholastica.  One stat sticks out to me: 422 rushing yards for the Knights as a team.  Seven MLC players had rushing attempts on the night; two of them were over 100 yards in the game including Holzhueter.  Northwestern and Crown have now taken the field for warm-ups, and will kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

07:42 PM: And here we go - Northwestern vs. Crown in a battle of the league's nos. 1 and 2 teams.  Northwestern (7-1 overall, 4-0 UMAC), who won its second straight conference championship last week versus Morris, faces a team in Crown that has vastly improved this year (4-3 overall, 3-1 UMAC).  When these two teams last played on Sep. 27, the Eagles scored 14 unanswered points in the game's final six minutes to post a come-from-behind win.

08:16 PM: After Ryan Long ran for two touchdowns for Northwestern, the Eagles stopped Crown on 4th and goal at the Eagles' 2-yard line.  Ryan has been the offensive star of the game thus far, recording 77 yards and the two scores in just over a quarter of play.  After taking last year off from football, Long, a sophomore eligibility-wise, returned to the field this year and has earned 741 yards on the ground.

08:58 PM: You know the end of the day is near when the food starts running out.  Drinks too, especially for a guy that doesn't drink pop.  Northwestern leads Crown 27-0 at halftime, and the Eagles have looked really sharp on both sides of the ball.  Northwestern, who usually relies on their passing game, has put points on the board with the run, showcased by their 124 yards on the ground in the half.  Earlier this week, Northwestern became the first team in UMAC history to be regionally ranked in the NCAA (8th in the West).

Our crowds for Dome Day have been really great, but less blue (the color of all but one of the 65,000 seats in the stadium - read more about that here) can be seen for the 7:30 game.  I'm not sure what our attendance figures have been today, but past Dome Days have brought two to three thousand people to the Metrodome.  I would label today as a similar crowd with perhaps a few more people for the last game.

If it weren't for two turnovers within the Northwestern 30-yard line, Crown could be in the game right now.  The Storm went three-and-out in their first possession of the third quarter, so we'll see what happens in the remaining minutes.

10:54 PM: So after everything was going great, the press box's wireless network went down midway through the thrid quarter of the Northwestern-Crown game.  Bummer.  Northwestern ended up winning 44-7, improving their record to 8-1.  The Eagles have a week off before hosting St. Thomas on Nov. 15.  If victorious in that contest, Northwestern could receive an invitation to the NCAA playoffs.

After 17 hours, another Dome Day is in the books.  There are so many people that put hours and hours of work into the day that don't get recognized: the chain gang, statistics crew, PA announcer, scoreboard operators, trainers, doctors, Dome security, Dome staffers and Minneapolis police officers, logistical assistants (getting teams and officials from here to there to everywhere from the moment they enter the Dome until the minute they leave), the ticket table staff, t-shirt sales...sadly, I'm sure there are more positions that I am forgetting.

In the three games today, 195 points were scored and 2,224 total yards were gained.  Martin Luther alone put up 628 yards of offense en route to 77 points.  St. Scholastica played its first-ever game in the Metrodome.  The UMAC got some background coverage on the Big Ten Network (we'll see how it looks!).  All of these unique things made Dome Day 2008 what it was.  So thanks for joining us, both you who were able to make it to the Metrodome and those of you who weren't.  It's been a great season of UMAC football.  And after all, it's not over yet - Martin Luther and St. Scholastica get to play again in eight days.